Flexible closure device



Oct. 17, 1961 M. JESKIN FLEXIBLE CLOSURE DEVICE Filed March 9, 1959 M wkW xw m 3,004,593 FLEXIBLE CLOSURE DEVICE Morton Jeskin, 16 Cold SpringHill Road,

Huntington, N.Y. Filed Mar. 9, 1959, Ser. No. 797,946 1 Claim. (Cl.160-201) The present invention relates to flexible closure devices, suchas doors, covers, shutters and the like structures, more particularly toclosure devices of the type comprising a set of adjoining slatsprojecting into and having their ends slidably supported in the groovesor channels of a pair of guide members or supports and being pivotallyconnected with each other, to allow of sliding movement within saidgrooves or guides comprising both straight and curved portions orsections.

In the known rolling or sliding type of closure devices of the abovetype, the slats must first be connected or assembled, to form a flexibleor articulated structure or assembly which is then inserted into theguide grooves or channels of the supporting device, to serve as a door,cover, shutter or the like closure device or unit. Aside from the addedcost of the assembly operations and the requirement of specialconnecting means of the slats, the usefulness and mechanical strength ofsuch devices is no greater than that of a single element or slat, aswell as of the connecting means therebetween, whereby to render itnecessary in case of damage or failure, to disassemble the entire devicefor the replacement of defective parts or elements and/ or for thecarrying out of States atent repairs or adjustments. This applies bothto arrangements of the type wherein the adjoining slats are joinedtogether by means of separate connecting means, as well as to structuresof the type wherein all the slats are connected by means of a commonsupporting member,

such as in the form of one or more canvas or the like flexible websbeing glued or otherwise secured to or within the slats, to pivotallyconnect the same and to form a unitary flexible or articulatedstructure-or assembly, in the manner well known in the art.

Accordingly, a principal object of the present invention is theprovision of a flexible closure device of the above type comprising aset of adjoining slats frictionally and pivotally engaging each otherand slidable within the grooves of a pair of guide members or supports,whereby any separate connecting means between adjacent slats aredispensed with and the device may be assembled and disassembled readilyand expeditiously by simply feeding or inserting the slats into andwithdrawing the same from the grooves or channels of the guiding membersor support.

Another object of the invention is the provision of a flexible closuredevice of the above type which, while providing a tight and closestructure, is capable of sufficient flexing in at least one direction,to allow its being readily slid or passed around sharp curves or cornersof the guide channels or slideways in the supporting dev1ce.

Yet another object of the invention is the provision of a flexibleclosure device of the above type which is both simple in design andinexpensive to manufacture and which can be assembled and disassembledreadily and expeditiously without the use of special tools or skilledlabor.

The invention, both as to its ancillary objects and novel aspects, willbe better understood from the following detailed description, taken inreference to the accompanying drawing forming part of this specificationand illustrating a preferred embodiment of the invention.

In the drawing, in which like reference characters denote like parts inthe separate views, thereof.

FIG. 1 is a cross-section showing the construction of a singleconstructional element or slat of the improved flexible closure deviceaccording to the invention;

FIG. 2 is a cross-section taken on line 2-4 of FIG. 3 and showing acomplete closure unit or device comprising a set of slats according toFIG. 1 and a cooperating guide or supporting device constructed inaccordance with the invention, and

FIG. 3 shows, on a reduced scale, a top or side view of a closure deviceor unit of the type according to FIG. 2.

Referring more particularly to FIG. 1, the constructional element shownconsists essentially of a flat element or slat 10 of rectangularcross-section having a thickness D and being made of any suitablematerial, such as wood, synthetic plastic or the like moldable or easilyworkable material. Provided at the opposite ends of the element 10 are apair of grooves or depressions 11a and 11b extending substantiallytransverse to and from the opposite faces 15a and 15b of the element, insuch a manner as to provide a pair of claw-shaped locking or endportions 12a and 12b respectively, of reduced height, as shown at 13aand 13b, and adapted to mutually interlock with and to pivotally engagethe grooves of the adjacent slats or elements in the assembled position,to thereby provide a flexible closure unit in cooperation with a pair ofsuitable guides or supporting members as will be described in greaterdetail hereafter.

Preferably, the grooves 11a and 11b have a depth :1 being equal to theheight h of the claw portions 12a and 12b and extending beyond thelongitudinal cross-sectional median line aa of the slats, as shown inthe drawing. In other words, the height of the claw portions 12a and12b, or of the inner edges 13a and 1312, also extends beyond the lineaa, whereby to provide a substantially flat structure in the assembledposition of the slats, as will become further apparent from thefollowing. Furthermore, the width w at the grooves or depressions 11aand 11b is equal to the width of the claw portions 12a and 12b, toensure a close fitting structure or assembly. The inner edge 14:: of oneof the grooves, that is groove 11a in the example shown, and the outeredge 14b of the claw portion, at the opposite end of the slat, that is,the claw portion 12b in the exampleshown are slightly slanting towardsthe transverse cross-sectional median line b-b of the slats by an anglea being of the order of about 10 to 15 and depending. upon the degree ofcurvature of theguide grooves of the support or guiding members for theslats in theassembled position, whereby to provide coordinated pairs ofsubstantially straight grooves and end portions 11b and 12a, on the onehand, and slanting grooves and end portions 11a and 12b, on the otherhand.

FIGS. 2 and 3 illustrate the assembled closure device or unit comprisinga plurality of slats 10 constructed in the manner according to FIG. 1and held in assembled position by means of a pair of suitable guidemembers or supports 15a and 16b with the straight claw portions 12a ofone slat engaging the straight grooves 11b of the adjacent slat of theset and with the slanting edges 14a and 14b adjoining one another, as'at y, in such a manner as to cause a firm inter-engagement of theadjacent slats and to prevent pivotal movement or relative flexing ofthe slats in one direction, that is, in the upward direction in theexample shown, by virtue of the close interlock of the claw portions 12awith the grooves 11b, as shown at x in the drawing.

At the same time, the assembly allows of suificient relative flexing orpivotal movement of the adjacent slats in the opposite, that is, thedownward direction in the example shown, by virtue of the free spaces ybetween the adjoining slanting edges 14a and 14b. As a consequence, thewidth W of the guide members 15a and 15b and 12b may advantageously beequal to about onethird of the gauge thickness D of the slats, while thedepths d of the grooves or depressions 11a and 11b and, in turn, theheight h of the claw portions 12a and 1215 may advantageously be of theorder of from 60% to 65% of said thickness, to provide a closely fittingand yet sufficiently flexible and easily slidable closure unit orstructure. In other words, the ends 13a and 13b of the claw portions 12aand 12b extend about 20% to 30% beyond the median line aa. However,these values may be varied to some extent, to suit existing conditionsor practical requirements. Furthermore, the, width 1 of the slats mayalso be varied to comply with existing specifications, such as thedegree of curvature of the guide grooves provided for cooperation withthe assembled slats. For normal use, such as for rolling doors orcovers, a width 1 equal to about 2 to 2.5 times the thickness D has beenfound to produce satisfactory results.

There is thus provided by the invention a flexible closure device orstructure comprised of a set of slats frictionally engaging each otherin the assembled position and being capable of relative pivotal orflexing movement in one direction in cooperation with and upon beinginserted or mounted in the cooperating curved guide grooves of a pair ofsupporting members, substantially without requiring any special orseparate connecting or securing means between the adjacent slats of theunit.

As a result, the closure device may be assembled simply andexpeditiously by interlocking the straight end portions of one slat withthe straight groove of the adjacent slat and by sequentially insertingor feeding a desired number of slats into the guide grooves or channelsof the supporting unit or device. In a similar manner, the device may bedisassembled instantly, to remove or replace any defective parts orelements and/or for the purpose of carrying out repairs or adjustments.

The practical uses and applications of the closure device according tothe present invention are numerous, as will be understood. Suffice it tomention only its use as a sliding or rolling door, as a cover for desks,cabinets, furniture, etc. or in general, for any type of container orreceptacle, the use as a shutter, as well as for many other applicationsor uses in practice.

In the foregoing the invention has been described with reference to aspecific illustrative device. It will be evident, however, thatvariations and modifications, as well as the substitution of equivalentelements for those shown herein for illustration, may be made inaccordance with the broader purview and scope of the invention as setforth in the appended claim. 1

Iclaim:

A device of the character described comprising a support having a pairof parallel passageways including at least one straight portion and onecurved portion in respect to the plane of said straight portion, and aflexible closure structure slidable within said passageways beingconstituted by a plurality of mutually interengageable slats each havinga flat rectangular cross-section and formed with claw-shaped endportions at the opposite longer edges thereof, said end portions havinga height less than the thickness of the slats and being formed by a pairof substantially straight-walled grooves having a width equal to aboutone third of the thickness of said slats and a depth of about to of saidthickness and being parallel to and spaced from said edges and extendingfrom opposite faces of the slats, the inner lateral wall of one of saidgrooves and the outer lateral wall of the other groove beingsubstantially normal to said faces and the width and depth of saidgrooves being equal, respectively, to the width and height of said endportions, whereby, with the end portions of one slat being interlockedwith the grooves of the adjacent slats, the slats being positioned withtheir short edges engaging the straight portion of said passageways forma closely fitting structure being aligned at right angles to saidpassageways and presenting a substantially continuous plane surface, theinner surface of the groove adjacent to one of said longer edges and theouter surface of the end portion at the opposite short edge of the slatsslanting inwardly in respect to a central symmetry line transverse tothe slats, whereby to enable a relative pivoting movement of adjacentslats in one direction, to conform with the curved portion of saidpassageways during passage therethrough of said structure.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS498,477 Lugrin May 30, 1893 FOREIGN PATENTS 567,822 France Dec. 12, 1922884,097 Germany July 23, 1953 1,128,688 France Aug. 27, 1956

